Harford official seeks to fold PTA chapter

In an unprecedented action, a Harford County school board member has asked the Maryland Congress of Parents and Teachers Inc. to revoke the charter of the Havre de Grace Elementary School PTA.

Richard W. Daub Jr. of Havre de Grace said the school's PTA president wrongfully involved himself in school personnel matters by calling for the ouster of Havre de Grace's principal, Franklin L. Tull. He requested that the charter be revoked in a letter to the Maryland Congress of Parents and Teachers, dated June 14. He presented the letter at a June 13 PTA meeting.

Havre de Grace PTA President Jerry Ashby said he did not think he was violating a charter or rule of the organization when he called for the principal's ouster.

"I wasn't speaking for the PTA in that matter," Mr. Ashby said.

Mr. Tull did not return phone messages left at the school's office.

No one has ever asked the Maryland Congress of Parents and Teachers to revoke a PTA charter, and the state organization has not revoked a charter for as long as the group's president, John R. Allen III, can remember. "Generally speaking, the actions of one member, or even several members, does not mean that an organization is not in good standing," Mr. Allen said. He said he will investigate the claims, but revoking Havre de Grace's PTA charter would be "an absolute last resort," he said.

Mr. Daub, who just completed the first year of a five-year term on the school board, said he was acting strictly as a parent and former president of the PTA, not as a school board member. He helped the organization earn a PTA charter in 1993, but said that Mr. Ashby and the group's administration have "tarnished" the group's image.

Mr. Ashby is quoted in The Sun as saying Principal Tull "has just got to go," a statement that violates the group's rules to not consider "personal grievances" or to encroach on the administrative functions of the school, Mr. Daub said.